NHS leaders* have written to the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, setting out the “critical priorities” facing the health service that they believe must be given “urgent attention.” Workforce and capital funding are two of the five issues on which the letter urges the new government to take action on “without delay” in order to mitigate the impact of risks that communities, NHS leaders and their teams are facing, and which are expected to worsen as the winter deepens. The other issues are social care, the rising cost of living and the effect of inflation on NHS budgets, and the need to strengthen the voice of people living with ill-health on decision-making.
On the workforce, the letter points out that the latest figure for staff vacancies across the NHS, but not including the thousands in primary care, reveals a new high, at 132,000. It renews the call for a long-term, fully-funded, workforce plan.
On capital funding, the letter states: “A decade of underinvestment in the NHS estate and infrastructure has left buildings crumbling and poor IT services and equipment that are undermining the quality, safety and efficiency of care, and efforts to tackle the
backlog. The maintenance backlog must be addressed, while capital funding that has already been promised for new builds must be unlocked. Those areas that have benefited from extra capital investment are usually able to deliver care more efficiently and effectively and that’s what we need to see across the service.”
The letter expresses concern about the impact of “soaring” inflation on services, as budgets are eroded. According to figures from the NHS Confederation, rising energy costs and the much-needed pay increase for NHS staff that was not budgeted or fully-funded mean the NHS is: “facing a real-terms funding cut of up to £9.4 billion this year.”
Among the actions the letter signatories want to see are support for the NHS in the expected emergency budget, to top up the NHS budget in order to address the real-terms reduction, and fully-fund the pay rise for all Agenda for Change staff.
“Without urgent action on the above five priorities, we risk failing to support the NHS to meet rising demand, with demand for general practice services and lengthening waiting times two of many consequences. We know this winter is going to be an extremely challenging period for staff and patients. We owe it to them to take the short and medium term steps required to ensure the NHS is not put in this position again going into next year’s winter period and beyond,” the letter concludes.
* Co-signatories to the letter are: Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive, NHS Confederation; Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, Chair, Academy of Medical Royal Colleges; Juliet Bouverie OBE, Chair, Richmond Group of Charities; Charlotte Augst, Chief Executive, National Voices; and Saffron Cordery, Interim Chief Executive, NHS Providers.
